In Their Eyes
by only here in your arms
Summary: They all see the relationship between Daryl and Carol differently.
1. Rick

**This will be a short story of the characters' views on Carol and Daryl. Most will take place in the 8 months between Season 2 and Season 3 but some will be in Season 3. Some will also be more detailed than others, depending on the character.**

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_"Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it." - William S. Burroughs_

**Rick**

A month after the Greene farm being overrun by walkers, their group was barely surviving.

Rick looked at all of the members of the group, darkened by the large shed they managed to break into. There was only a window near the ceiling but no one was complaining. The Georgia sun had been heating them for nearly all light hours for the past several weeks and having a little shade, it was a slight victory.

But although their spirits were elevated just a little, it did none to mask their hunger and thirst.

They were basically all sticks. Sickeningly so, especially Lori, who's stomach was now protruding from her shirt. Rick got dizzy every time he thought of Lori carrying the baby with no food in her stomach.

While the group got some rest in the shed, Rick and Daryl went out to hunt for anything they could find. With a month of practice, Daryl was finally okay with Rick going out with him to hunt. Before Rick's boots would either chase away the game or attract stray walkers. Now he was almost as silent as Daryl himself.

They moved silently through the woods, the high trees doing nothing to protect their skin from the burning sun. Rick envied Daryl's sleeveless shirts sometimes, looking down at his own fully sleeved shirt. But he had no other clothing than his jacket, his long shirt, and his jeans. He wanted to be practical for the winter, which meant not altering his clothes, but that also meant sweating to death in the sun.

Within a few hours, Daryl and Rick were carrying home a few squirrels, enough to feed the entire group once, but since they'd gone without food for a few days they would take what they could get. Entering the shed Rick immediately went to Carl, greeting him silently, and nodding to Lori.

At the corner of his eye Rick saw Daryl enter the shed as well and walking straight towards Carol.

Rick sometimes shamefully admitted to himself that he'd forget Carol was with them. She was very silent, walked just as softly as Daryl, and was never a noticeable member of the group. But he'd always take note of how she split whatever food she got with Lori or Carl.

For that, Rick was grateful for her.

But seeing the hunter almost gravitate towards the silent woman, it didn't surprise Rick much. He saw the two of them stick close to each other as the days went on. He saw that they barely spoke with words, but in stares and nods, creating a language between the two of them that no one else would understand.

Rick saw that they were a good pair. And he was glad to have them both.

Almost as much as he knew that they were glad to have each other.


	2. Carl

**Thank you for the reviews! I'm really glad you're enjoying the concept. Like I said, the chapters' lengths will depend on the character. Some of them are just more descriptive than others!**

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_"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are." - C.S. Lewis_

**Carl**

They hit a gun supply jackpot. Carl was the one to spot a sign for a local gun shop as his dad drove in some aimless direction. After some coaxing, the group went towards the gun shop and found it unpicked. They grabbed all the guns they could, all of the ammo, and anything else that was useful.

After that day, things started to look up slightly. They found a house to hold up in for a few days to rest and to do some target practice for the unskilled members of the group.

While Carl had training with a small gun, he begged his dad to let him train with bigger guns. His dad consented and just like the farm with Shane, the group went to an open field and lined up some bottles for targets.

It was the most fun Carl had in months. To have this huge gun in his hands, fire it, and making a bottle burst open, it made him feel like a man, a protector of the group. The recoil of the rifle was making his body hurt but he'd take the pain over the boringness any day.

After his turn Carl watched the others as they trained. Maggie was getting pointers from Hershel, his dad was helping out Beth, and Daryl was showing Carol how to hold the gun without actually moving Carol's arms.

It was weird to Carl. How is someone supposed to learn if they aren't actually being helped? His dad positioned him to the right stance and made him move into the stance almost ten times until he was allowed to even hold the gun. And Daryl was barely even showing the right stance.

Carl continued to watch Daryl and Carol talking about the gun. It looked too huge for her skinny body, he thought. The gun she had was larger and heavier than his own and he could only hold the gun comfortably for a few minutes. Carol's was a monster with a higher power. He hoped she wouldn't get hurt by Daryl's poor teaching.

Daryl signaled Carol to hold up the gun and Carl shook his head at Carol's poor stance. Her body wasn't squared to the ground, her arms looked like they were struggling to hold up the gun, and it just looked so weird to see a lady older than his mom holding a gun.

It took a few minutes for Carol to fire her first shot. She looked to be hesitating, which made Daryl bite his thumb. Carl thought that that was a bad and gross habit that Daryl had. But he wasn't going to point it out, he wouldn't dare.

Carl jumped at the sound of a bullet slicing through a glass bottle. Looking at the women at the line, he thought it must've been Maggie or maybe Beth but the two Greene girls were smiling over at Carol.

_She hit it first shot!_ Carl thought to himself. _How in the world? She wasn't doing it right!_

A second shot fired, another bottle broken, making Carol's shots two for two. Over the initial shock, Carl was proud of her. A few months ago he couldn't see Sophia's mother firing a handgun, let alone an assault rifle. But she seemed to be a sharp shooter.

His dad seemed very happy with Carol's talent.

Daryl, he didn't look that different.

Among the things that Carl's noticed about Daryl Dixon, he saw that smiling wasn't something he did very often. Heck, looking anything other than angry wasn't something he did very often. He often squinted his eyes and stared you down, talked in a stern voice, and had his crossbow over his shoulder along with his latest kill.

Even while Carol continued to hit her targets, Daryl remained unfazed. He gave no praise, no words of encouragement, and just continued to stand and stare.

Only until Carol lowered her gun as they finished for the day did Carl notice Daryl's hand touch Carol's arm. It caused her to smile, the first genuine smile he'd seen from any of the others in a while.

The fact that Daryl Dixon could cause someone to smile like Carol just did, it really surprised him. Seems like it was a day of surprises.


	3. Beth

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! This one is longer and maybe a bit more AU but I'd imagine a teenage girl thinking like this. Please review if you like and thanks for reading!**

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_"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr._

**Beth**

Beth had only seen love in the movies and TV. Watching two people fall in love was her favorite kind of movie. She wished that she'd fall in love like that. Her relationship with Jimmy wasn't at the point of love yet and now that the world was in ruin, she'd lost the hope that she'd ever experience that beautiful love.

But it didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to see it.

She wasn't able to see Glenn and Maggie fall in love. It was as if the two of them just bungee-jumped into it, considering how quickly it had happened. But that wasn't the magical "falling in love" story that she was able to watch unfold.

It was between two polar opposites but it was as if they fit the missing pieces in each other.

Months after losing the farm, their group continued to fight for their lives. Beth wasn't used to having to move place to place and running so much and barely eating and drinking. She was tired all of the time and often found herself thinking that it might've been better if she hadn't made it off the farm.

It was getting too tough for her; living in this world where the dead came to kill and you had to kill to survive.

Beth spent a lot of time with Carol. She leaned on the older woman, figuratively and literally, and Carol would offer her words of encouragement during their travels and their hunger and thirst. She'd hold her hand as they walked or ran and Beth was awfully grateful to have her.

On nights when her father had watch, Beth would sleep next to Carol and they'd share stories and make each other smile, momentarily forgetting that when the sun came up they'd have to continue their endless journey.

Beth learned all about Carol's past, including her abusive marriage. Carol shared stories about Ed, how he'd suppressed her, beat her, but also how he gave her the most precious thing she'll ever have. Carol talked about the happy memories of Sophia's life and after so many stories, Beth felt like she almost grew up with Carol's daughter. She spoke of Sophia with life and joy and Beth admired Carol's strength to be able to talk about the daughter she lost to this world.

One night, with her father on watch and everyone else dispersed around a small house, Beth had her head in Carol's lap as she laid down on a couch. Carol sat playing with Beth's hair mindlessly, thinking of a new story to share.

Beth was close to falling asleep when Carol finally spoke. "Has anyone given you flowers before, Beth?"

"My daddy would give my momma, Maggie, and me flowers on Valentine's Day," she answered, sleepily smiling. "Sometimes boys would too, but I couldn't show daddy, he didn't like that. Did you get flowers?"

"Not often," Carol replied. "But I once got a flower from a man who told me a story about it. And he gave me hope when I thought I'd lost it all."

Beth heard the door to their room opening up but she didn't open her heavy eyes. A dull thud of something falling on the ground was how Beth knew someone else was in the room. Carol just continued to rub her head softly and continued her story. "He wasn't the type to do that, give flowers to people, let alone know stories about them."

"Was he a good guy?" Beth asked.

"Very," Carol said. "The very best."

A long period of silence followed, making Beth think that Carol had fallen asleep. But after several minutes she felt Carol's legs moving slightly and a blanket going over her body.

"Carol?" Beth whispered, just on the brink of sleep.

"Yeah, Beth?"

Beth thought of asking who the man was but she liked the idea of keeping Carol's flower guy a mystery. And obviously Carol, having given no specific hints, really wanted to expose him. So instead Beth asked, "What flower was it?"

"Oh it was a Cherokee Rose," Carol said sweetly. "Haven't seen them for a while. Last was at your farm."

"They're very beautiful flowers," Beth sighed.

And she fell asleep.

The following morning Beth felt oddly refreshed. Like she hadn't been tired and hungry the past months. The gurgling in her stomach a second later brought it all back, though. She moved carefully, as to not wake up Carol who fell asleep sitting. Beth rubbed her eyes to adjust to the sunrise and looked around the room. Maggie and Glenn had made it to the room, falling asleep on the floor after their watch. Looking around again Beth saw a beer bottle on the table beside Carol's head.

A beer bottle with a few Cherokee roses.

Beth slowly remembered her talk with Carol the night before, talking of flowers and giving and Cherokee roses. And of the best man Carol knew, the one who gave her the roses. But Beth pictured him as a guy from her youth, maybe high school or college, and she thought that they were in love and Carol had lost him.

But that didn't seem to be true then since someone had obviously left Carol the beautiful flowers. Beth's father had watch that night so she wasn't the receiver of the flowers. It was definitely for Carol.

Well it couldn't be from Glenn nor her dad. Or T-Dog, who was also on watch. Obviously not Carl and most likely not Rick. So that left one.

Daryl.

Beth tried imagining Daryl going into the woods and searching for flowers and a container to put them in. She'd pictured it but it was odd. She only saw Daryl as a tough, quiet guy who'd find, skin, and cook their food. She was once afraid of him but she'd gotten over it, finding it silly to fear a man when there was plenty of other things to fear in the world now.

But it had to be Daryl. He was, _is_, Carol's flower giver.

"_He gave me hope when I thought I'd lost it all,"_ Carol had said the night before. Could it be from when Carol lost her daughter? Beth remembered that it was Daryl who took a nasty fall trying to find her. He seemed to take the helm of the search, even though Rick was organizing it. Daryl tried the hardest and the longest so he must've had hope. He must've given Carol the hope as well.

After a few minutes Beth saw Carol stirring awake. To avoid awkwardness Beth pretended to just be waking up as well, covering her eyes and stretching her arms and legs while Carol did the same.

"Morning," Carol greeted with her same, soft smile.

"Good morning," Beth replied. She pretended to look around again and over Carol's shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "What are those?"

Carol turned her head and gasped silently. She picked up the brown bottle and a smile grew on her face, her eyes sparkled like Beth had never seen before, and she stared at them like they were rarities.

Beth was pleased to see Carol genuinely happy and the fact that a flower, no, flowers from Daryl could do it made her realize something.

What she was witnessing was like one of her favorite movies or TV shows when a woman falls in love with a man who sweeps her off her feet. This was the beautiful love she rooted for, she wished to have, and loved to see.

And she was seeing it develop right in front of her.

The door opened and both women turned their heads. It was their resident hunter, dirtier today than yesterday, holding what seemed to be their meals of the day.

Beth looked at both of them, analyzing their eyes and their gazes. The two spoke libraries to each other with a few seconds of eye-contact, she could see it clearly. It was enough to confirm that it was Daryl to leave Carol the roses and enough to confirm Beth's wish to see the two of them together someday.


End file.
